October 24, 2010

National Novel Writing Month - third time charm?

The start of NaNoWriMo 2010 is only one week away! I was a winner in 2008, when I did it completely by the book. I also tried again in March of 2009, but gave up when my favorite aunt died half way through. In November 2009, I didn't get much further either.

I have been an avowed NaNoWriMo Luddite until now. I've written all my novels or partial novels by hand in fancy Maruman Cover Note notebooks from Japan. This year, I will try authoring with FastPencil, a company that graciously provides a free on-line editing software especially designed for book writers. Using FastPencil also has the advantage of not having to keep endless track of memory sticks and where the latest version is and, whoops, I don't have it with me - it's on my husband's laptop and he's out of town! The downside of FastPencil will be wi-fi. If there's no wi-fi, there's no progress.

Facing this year's efforts to write 50,000 words of a new novel leaves me a bit bereft. I followed the NaNoWriMo bible, No Plot, No Problem: A High-Velocity, Low-Stress Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days, so closely that I transferred all my scenes to index cards and laid them out so I could view the glory of my labors (as recommended on page 166). As you can see, there are 17 chapters, but I've only sent the first five through my writers group.

It took me one year to get my 2008 novel transcribed and another year to create the outline? I'm not the speediest worker. Now I want to do it again?!? My thinking on this is as follows: the NaNoWriMo Bible mentions that we are to let our work rest before we review it, so while I'm leaving it alone, I can finish editing my first one!